Can Sham Shui Po, one of Hong Kong’s oldest and poorest neighbourhoods, take off as the next fashion and design hub?

Sham Shui Po is a densely-packed maze of cramped flats and cheap, colourful wares for sale. But with its rich cultural heritage, plans are afoot to make it a magnet for designers and tourists alike

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Fabric vendors and customers have long flocked to Hong Kong’s Sham Shui Po district. Photo: Sam Tsang

Published: 12:31pm, 24 Feb 2018Updated: 10:02pm, 24 Feb 2018

A white historic building surrounded by the glitzy skyscrapers of Central and the hipster shops of Soho has been the site of hundreds of thousands of Instagram photos and is described as a must-visit destination on tourist and design guides.

It once housed the city’s men in blue, but since 2014, the Police Married Quarters or PMQ, has been a trendy melting pot of local fashion, design, art and lifestyle offerings.

Now, the government wants to replicate its success and build a similar design and fashion hub – this time in the predominantly working-class area of Sham Shui Po.

The plan is to boost creative industries and make them a new driver of the city’s economic growth. Photo: Sam Tsang

Dotted with old residential flats – many of them subdivided units – the Kowloon district is home to large numbers of new immigrants, ethnic minorities and the elderly. Recent government figures showed Sham Shui Po had the highest poverty rate among the city’s 18 districts.

But it is also brimming with shopping options – from electronic parts to toys to affordable textiles – including a ramshackle and soon-to-be-relocated fabric hawkers’ market that has been an institution for budding fashion designers and hobbyists alike.

Plans for the hub were revealed last October during Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor’s maiden policy address.